A WOMAN who has been fighting a battle with the owner of a city restaurant over a series of complaints says she has now been made ill with worry.

The Worcester News reported in January how Frances Fosh, who has run Charlie's Cafe in Sidbury for the last 21 years, was threatening to take legal action against her next door neighbour Brandon Weston, owner of The Glasshouse, over a series of unresolved building issues.

However, Mr Weston said they are all in the process of being sorted out and Mrs Fosh has been kept informed.

Mrs Fosh, who also lives above Charlie's, has a party wall agreement in place which states the flat roof of her property must be replaced at Mr Weston's expense after it was used to support his builders' scaffolding - but nearly eight months after the Glasshouse opened it has still not been sorted out.

There are also issues with a fire escape which was not built in accordance with the planning permission and left exposed at the back of Mrs Fosh's listed property.

"I have now been diagnosed with stress related asthma as a result of this nightmare," Mrs Fosh said.

"Mr Weston was quoted in the Worcester News in January saying he would sort it out now' and yet I am still waiting.

"I also can't believe that he is probably going to get away with building a fire escape which is blatantly not where it was supposed to be."

However, Mr Weston said the issues are being resolved and defended the delays.

"I'm really sorry to hear about her illness and I wouldn't wish that upon anybody, but what am I supposed to do here? The first contractor I appointed to do the party wall she didn't want so I asked her which one she wanted," he said.

"She said Severn Roofing so I got them to do the job. They told me it would be four to six weeks about four weeks ago. Fran is fully aware of that. I tried to contact them yesterday but unfortunately I couldn't get through to them."

Meanwhile, Paul O'Connor, head of planning at Worcester City Council, confirmed Mr Weston has now been invited to apply for retrospective planning permission for the fire escape - along with other outbuildings which officers discovered had been built despite not being on the original plans.

"These outbuildings are refrigeration storage and weren't given planning permission," he said.

"Retrospective permission is now required. If it is not applied for we could take enforcement action against Mr Weston."

Mr Weston said the fire escape is currently "in the hands of the professionals", but refused to comment on the outbuildings saying it is an issue between him and the city council.